Hands bound in darkness
by RedViking96
Summary: Alduin has yet to be defeated the Storm cloaks are still trying to push out the Empire but the Dragon born still prowls the night but when what was meant to be a simple assassination is the start of a catastrophic chain of events that will shake the very foundations of the world, Fem vampire dragoborn/Serana pairing.


Hands bound in darkness  
**Disclaimer: I do not own Skyrim or anything else made by Bethesda I do own the character but not the race of Tamilia I also own the sub plot.  
**_**Content warning: persons under 18 should not read this as for those under 18 DO NOT TELL ME.**_  
_Authors note: like my other fanfic I plan to be basing it on one of my character play throughs much blood ahead also tweaked the story line a bit so please read rate and review.  
P.s I've changed it all so please look once more and thank you all for waiting._

She crept down the dim, back street, her eyes darting towards the light given off by the touches, she effortlessly kept to the shadows, avoiding the guard patrols, with ease, their patterns were always the same and easy to predict, and she wasn't above cutting a few coin purse's from the more unwary of the men.  
Business in Riften had become more difficult even since the Jarl imposed a curfew on the entire city, the paranoid bat was convinced that imperial spies lurked in every shadow, which while they probably did that only meant that you gave said imperial spies an early bed rest, she thought to herself as she slowly she made her way across the market place stopping for a moment as a guard passed, she proceeded until she saw her destination, descending the damp wooden stairs before she looked over the hinges of the old steel door thinking quickly she pulled a small phial of lantern oil from her pouch and smeared it over the hinges and quietly opened the steel bar door and descended into the rat way.

Making her way deep into the rabbit warren of tunnels she moved silently avoiding the local skooma addicts until she found herself in the vaults, her gaze drawn to the place where she was meant to meet her employer and the area around it.  
It looked the same as most of the other "homes" in the rat way, dirty little holes in the wall that were barely better than living in the streets, taking a final look at the area around her, before she entered and saw her employer.  
"Finally decided to join me Assassin or were you to caught up slicing some old lady's throat?" sneered the dark elf, while his eyes drifted slowly earthwards from her face and then up her body again, being ogled that annoyed her but, old lady's did this guy have a death wish?  
She rarely killed if she wasn't being attacked, feeding or being paid to do so the more she killed the more she was noticed, and any being as old as her knew the value of anonymity this one on the other hand knew nothing, she thought to herself as she grinned showing a hint of fang, which had the desired effect as the elf quickly shut his gob and focused.  
She truly loathed her current contract not because sneaking into the Windhelm, guard barracks and slaughtering, the captain and three other guards was difficult.

But because she had to put up with the scum of the world like the elf before her, he was meant to be a man that had just lost his betrothed and had been all but drooling over her since she had walked in, this coupled with the way they all had a holier the thou attitude towards her always they would look down their noses at her like they were better than her perhaps she was just a killer but they were the ones that paid her.  
Mostly she had forgotten their names, they were just faces, voices and more often than not she put an end to their smug grins.  
It was closing on dawn, she needed sleep, and she was beginning to wonder if the payment was worth allowing this idiot to keep her awake.  
"I assume that the job was done correctly?" the dunmer asked referring to whether or not she had turned the simple kill into a blood bath like she was meant to or had simply killed them and left, she was confident that the guards that had found the body would never sleep soundly again, and told her employer as such.  
What the elf had asked her to do was send a message to the rest of them in Windhelm, look what happens when you beat an innocent woman to death, a woman who had been engaged to her employer, when he asked for specifics; she recalled the deed and retold it with vivid detail.

It had a cold night fog had moved in blanketing the city in a murky darkness, many of the inhabitants had been locked safely in their homes just after dusk with a serial killer on the loose, the butcher of Windhelm, they called him she had had a hard time stopping herself from bursting out into laughter, when the gate guard had told her as such and to be careful, to stay near well-lit, crowded areas, even if her leather armor had raised his eye brow slightly he had let it go, she could care less about some murderer because just for tonight the most dangerous thing in Windhelm was her.

She spent the rest of the night brewing the necessary potions that she may need and scouting out the Jarls palace not that she really needed to since she had been inside many times before but old habits die hard as dawn approached she made her way back to the grey quarter.  
When someone caught her attention a drunkard stumbling down one of the alley ways, how convenient she thought that she was going to have to go hunting for a meal, keeping to the shadows she followed the man, he took another swig from his bottle and began mumbling to himself about how the grey skins were going to get what was coming to them that's when she recognized the voice Rolff stone fist that worthless excuse for a Nord was probably one of the men responsible for killing her employers beloved oh what a catch it may not be part of the contract but she had been itching to get a taste of him ever since he begun waging a campaign for the dragon born the supposed savior of Skyrim (She haden't even killed that bloody dragon yet) to come out in the light of day and unmask herself before all of Windhelm since whenever she went forth as the Dovahkiin she wore the dragon priest mask Konahrik, what worried her most wasn't the sun light it would be painful but she could do that if she needed to, but her face being made know to all of skyrim that would destroy her ability to complete jobs like this with ease every guard would remember her face, even as things were she was uneasy about being in Windhelm since a small group of Ulfrics guards knew what she looked like.  
But if she killed Rolff now she ran the risk of his body being discovered before she had done the task she was here to do, but his death would also remove almost any threat of her being unmasked, she waited going over the facts in her mind before coming to a conclusion the benefits out weighted the risks, creeping in the darkness until she was within arm's reach of him so close she could smell the alcohol on his breath and could hear his heartbeat, see the veins pulsing in his neck, that was when she wrapped her hand around his mouth and threw the other over his chest bending him backwards while muffling his cries as she sunk her teeth into his flesh feeling the warm blood pooling in her mouth and sliding down her throat all the while she listened as his heart beat slowed and finally stopped.  
Carrying the limp body over her shoulder she went through her mental map and thought of the perfect place to stow the body, skulking down the back streets until she made her way to the grave yard, she opened the door to the hall of the dead, moving deeper into the crypt she found an empty space and place Rolffs body neatly inside, and was almost back outside when she felt a hand on her shoulder.  
"Excuse me but isn't it a bit late for you to be praying to Arkay dear?" asked the voice Tamilia turned around before faceing Helgrid the halls priest her eyes wilding at the sight of the blood that covered Tamilias face, before the older woman could say anything more Tamilia pushed some of her power into her voice dominating the elder woman's mind.  
_"You never saw me here, you won't even see Rolffs body until two days from now do you understand me?_" she commanded allowing her voice to flow over Helgrid watching as she swayed and rocked on the balls of her feet she'd be fine in a minute, with that done Tamilia left dawn was closing in and she felt sleepy.

The New gnisis corner club a truly sad establishment but it suited her needs in order to avoid the slim chance that any of the patrons would recognise her in candle hearth hall and they tended to be suspicious of their patrons being a Bosmer in Windhelm which was a pain the ass but ha would only get worse if said patron slept in her all day.  
So she was forced to stay in the dunmer bar, and a decently weighted coin purse ensured Ambarys Rendars silence and the fact that he had a soft spot for all non-human's in Windhelm, and so she went up to her room and slept.  
Tamilia awoke after dusk was setting in and tonight someone was going to die, she made her way down stairs ordered a piece of meat that she could chew on for a while and left an hour later.  
She walked around for another hour waiting for the sun to fully give way to the night, keeping her stride calm she sought out the barracks, turning a corner she saw the door leading to the guards quarters with a solder standing watch probably frozen stiff and praying to his gods that his shift would end soon, not that the cold bothered her in the slightest, pausing a moment to think she frizzed her shoulder length red hair and doing her best to look distraught she ran around to the man sobbing.  
Instantly more alert the large man, rushed over to her.  
"What is it, what's wrong?" he demanded looking over her with obvious distaste seeing now that she was a wood elf.  
"A man he….he attacked me… out of nowhere… please help me" she sobbed mock tears falling onto her cheeks, falling for the ruse he softened slightly.  
"Don't worry he's gone now I'll take you inside to calm down" he said reassuringly, it was a shame really, she was about to kill one of the few decent people here, one that wouldn't spit on her for just existing, and having pointy ears, but obstacles needed to be dealt with crying she hugged him tightly shuddering, stunned for a moment he didn't react, he hesitantly put his hand on her back and began soothing her, all the while she moved into the correct position, thankful that the man wasn't wearing one of those full helmets that most guards did, it made what she was about to do much easier, nuzzling her head into his neck, he began to try to pull her off, she tightened her grip like a vice, her fangs descending she clamped her mouth over his neck and bit, tightening her jaw and crushing his windpipe before he could cry for help, she pulled deeply sucking in the man's blood, with brutal efficiency, his feeble struggles ended within seconds, feeling his heat beat slowing and finally stoping she released the lifeless body from her grasp she licked the rest of the man's life juices from her mouth.  
Searching the corpse, she pulled off the keys and gold potch before dragging him off into a nice dark alley full of baby Skeevers; walking back she pulled her hood over her face and unlocked the barracks door with the blood spattered key.

She looked around after closing the door quietly behind her the barracks looked like any other weapon racks lined the walls on one side and beds on the other, keeping quite she made her way up through the door which lead to the place of kings dining hall, when a female voice called out.  
"HALT, who are you revile yourself?" demanded the voice, turning her head slightly, she saw someone who made she jaw tighten and her blood boil Dalla, the Nord bitch that had once set her bed on fire though it had been declared a "accident" the stupid blond was persistent, in her attempts to prove that Tamilia was not as she seemed, ever since she had seen her come back from the trial of serpent rock without a scratch, though she was sure that it had more to do with her being an elf then suspicion of being a vampire but what made her dangerous was that she was one of the few that knew who she was and what she looked like.  
Tamilia was certain that Dalla was sharing a bed with the steward Jorleif, seeing as she always got off easily when she went too far with both prisoners and civilians alike and she always had the best postings never out in the cold, instead she spent her time inside the palace next to the fires, not that any of this made Tamilia feel any better, what did make her want jump with childlike glee was that finally she was alone with the Nord and she was still hungry.  
"I SAID TURN AROUND" she shouted raising her halberd, slowly turning and lifting her hood faced her, she smirked as the expression of surprise spared across the other woman's face.  
"Thane what are you doing skulking around the place at this hour?" she questioned spitting out Tamilias title as if it had a vile taste to it.  
"Lower your weapon and I will tell you" she responded, after a moment's hesitation Dalla began to pull back on the pole arm but never finished, on account of Tamilia, lunching forward and snapping her hand across the weapon and the other around Dallas mouth, reacting instinctively she dropped her weapon and attempted to pry Tamilias hand off of her mouth, for a moment she just listened to the muffled cries of the other woman, frowning slightly as Dalla began clawing at her forearm, tiering of her pathetic attempts of resistance Tamilia wrapped her other hand around the back of Dallas neck, and twisted it in a swift, practiced movement.  
She dropped the twitching body and checked to see if anyone else had heard the noise, after a moment she dragged the body over to, Jorleifs chair and posed it perfectly, taking a step back she smiled at it when someone entered the hall the first thing they would she a woman with her head twisted completely backwards.

Tamilia then crept into the upper floors of the palace to the captain's quarters quickly glancing around she picked to lock, but before she opened the door, pulled on her gloves on, she opened her pouch and fished out a clear vial which contained her own blend of nightshade, white cap, and frost bite venom, what made it so wonderful was that the way that she had brewed it from a process of trial and error she had created a truly effective contact poison, which not only was lethal within minutes but it also seeped into most gloves the next one to grasp the handle would never even know what killed them, she spared it over the knob before she slipped inside silently.  
Tamilia looked over the captains sleeping form and grimaced her client had demanded that she make a his death a clear message to Windhelms finest, that being a sadistic racist, could be harmful to thoughts of a long and happy life.

With that in mind she cracked her knuckles and smashed her fist into the side of the man's head, the force of the blow threw him from the bed, and onto the ground feeling much more awake he was about to cry for help when she fell onto him and drove the air from his lungs by driving her knee into his solar plexus, finely using his brain he threw a round house swing with his right hand, she swatted it away and drove her other leg into his groin, the man under her doubled up and wheezed, a smile spreading on her face, she pulled out a set of thick leather straps and tied them firmly around his mouth.  
With that done she stepped off him, and looked around the room for something she could use to turn this quivering lump into mince, when she spotted the perfect tool for the job, a war axe made of ebony, picking up the weapon she felt the way it balanced perfectly in her hand and the way it gleamed even in the darkness seeming to drink in the gloom, gave it a beautifully mesmerizing quality.  
She gave it a practice swing before testing the razor shape edge, and told herself, to see if she could find some of these marvellous blades to call her own.

Being the woman that she was she started from the feet and worked her way upwards, when she came to the middle of the man's leg any doubts about the axes ability to cleave through chain mail was erased as the axe sliced through the armour as if it were made of paper, it was far more graceful then she had thought it would be she had expected that she would have had to spend a large amount of her time dragging through the bone instead it cut in clean quick swipes, she really needed to get her hands on some ebony.

Whoever said that you can't find joy in your work, Tamilia thought to herself as she threw the captains arm over her shoulder, licking the blood from her fingers, the man had been dead for a while now, his head was thrown back and his eyes were cold dead orbs, by now there was blood spattered all over the room, she was always delightfully surprised at the amount of blood in the body.  
Tamilia was about to continue spreading the man across the room when a voice from outside called  
"Captain, Sir someone's been murdered in the hall….sir are you alright?" after another moment's pause the door knob began rattling, she cursed softly, she had been so caught up enjoying her new toy that she had ignored the sound of, boots rushing her way, they must have found Dalla sooner than she thought they would, she disliked leaving a job like this half-done but she had little choice in the matter, as someone on the other side of the door began to try to kick it in and since the door wasn't made to withstand that kind of force she had seconds before it would come off its hinges so quickly placing the axe on what was left of the man's torso she dashed over to the window and opened it to be buffeted by icy wind and a sheer drop straight down into the streets below, she climbed up and was about to jump when the door flew inwards from the power behind the kick of a large Nord man, he yelled something to her but she didn't hear it as she let go and fell, the ground rushing up to meet her.

They were too good at this, the guards here had responded to their captain's death almost fast enough to prevent her from leaving the city but none of the guards at the gate had gotten the message to lock the gates and since she had switched cloths and cleaned her face and any were else that the blood showed, and dressed as a priestess of Talos, they practically asked if she wanted the clothes off their backs, but she just recited a blessing and went on her way traveling to Riften while one more guard had dropped dead from the poisoned door knob and soon they would find Rolffs body it was turning out to be a very good week.

By the time she had finished her story the Dunmer had paled significantly and had sunk into his chair.  
"You threw his body parts around the room?" he asked his eyes widening at the mental imagery, she nodded grinning the elf squirmed in his seat that's when she heard it clearly his heart beating so very fast but that too fast for excitement he was afraid, terrified of what her, she was flattered.  
"So where is the sum that is owed to me?" she asked trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.  
"Well…I.. how much was the agreed upon amount?" he asked his heart beat sky rocketing.  
"Five thousand gold pieces do you have it with you?" she replied she already knew the answer but she wanted this quivering sack of meat say it.  
"I planned to but I umm hadn't…" he stammered his eyes darting to the exit, she didn't let him finish the blood bag never had the money, and she would exact her payment in his blood, snarling she ploughed her open palm into his nose and clamped down on his neck and letting instinct take over.

She loathed dead beats and for all of his belongings Tonilia had barely given her enough gold for a wagon ride outside the gates and ever since she had entered the rat way she had felt eyes on her but she hadn't only caught a sent yet so whoever it was, was being very careful and that intrigued her if this new person continued to follow her she would have to deal with them, she thought as she made her way through the square sighing she rented a room at the bee and barb for the day.

Tamilia awoke just after dusk as she had done so for, what the last thousand and a half years or so.  
What was she going to do now, where would she go next, Markarth, perhaps; people always seemed to need killing up there.  
She shook herself wake grabbed her gear went down stairs and left it was turning out to be a truly boring day, however what did pique her interest was that she was still being followed, and the fact that she hadn't seen or scented them yet, showed that they had skill, so to that end she suddenly darted down a side alley and waited listening as soft, but hurried foot falls as a dark figure emerged from the street, She pounced on her pursuer, grabbing his neck and throwing him against the wall, ready to tear his throat out, when she realised that he was a she, and that she was wearing the Sigel of the black hand, what the fuck did the dark brotherhood want with her, because if it was dead there should be a dagger in her belly which would have really pissed her off, so she eased the pressure on the woman's neck.  
"Who and why?" she growled shaking her to emphasise her point.  
"My name is Astrid and well my dear I had planned on extending you a proposition to you after seeing what you did in Windhelm I had planned on waiting a bit longer before I Introduced myself but it seems that you had other plans" she answered her voice calm and controlled.  
"What proposal?" She asked keeping her eyes on Astrid's.  
"I want you to join our Brotherhood"

**A/N: I return and I was compelled to restart this little story I do believe my muse has returned oh what a fickle mistress she is.**


End file.
